The Relationship Between Pupil Size And Refractive Error

Abstract

Background: [t is a common conception that myopes tend to have larger pupil size and hyperopes smaller pupil size. This research was designed to investigate the effect ofage, gender and refractive error on the pupil size of humans.

Methods: A total of six hundred (n=600) subjects made up of 280 (46.67%) males and 320 (53.33%) females within 10 to 65 years (mean age: 37416.7 years) were used for this study. Retinoscopy was carried out on all subjects as well as their pupil size measurements taken under both ambient and dim iuminations.

Results: There was a statistically significant difference between pupil size and refractive error under both ambient and dim illuminations, (p<0.05).There was no statistically significant difference between the pupil size of males compared to females under both illuminations (unpaired t-test; p>0.05) and there was a relationship between pupil size and age with a regression line pupil size= 4.26 - 0.033age, for
ambient illumination, and pupil size=6.44 - 0.047 age for dim illumination.

Conclusion: Pupil size is dependent on refractive error but independent of gender.